Chesterton Sixth Form
Chesterton Sixth Form

Film Studies

You will never look at film the same way again after you take Film Studies at Chesterton Sixth Form. We will tailor the course to make sure you get to think about the films that are important to you, while setting out on an exciting journey into 11 vital examples of cinema, preferring a practical approach wherever possible.

Subject Information

Film is one of the main cultural innovations of the 20th century and a major art form of the last hundred years. Those who study it characteristically bring with them a high degree of enthusiasm and excitement for what is a powerful and culturally significant medium, inspiring a range of responses from the emotional to the reflective.

Course Details

Study 11 incredible films over 2 years and become a director as you make your own short film production. Films included on the course are: 

  • Inception and Winter’s Bone; 
  • Vertigo and Blade Runner; 
  • Shaun of the Dead and Moon; 
  • Pan’s Labyrinth and City of God; 
  • Pulp Fiction
     

Explore the incredible history of cinema. Dive into the film industry and get behind the camera for a course unlike any other. 

You will be assessed over two exams (70%) and your film production (30%). 

Subject Specific Entry Requirements

  • Grade 6 in GCSE English.
  • Grade 6 in GCSE Film Studies (if taken).

Where could Film Studies take me?

Film Studies can lead to degree level study of Film; the film industry – directing, producing, editing, sound design; theatre design; marketing and advertising. 

Film Studies touches on a wide range of degree subjects including Art, Drama, English Literature, Theatre, Politics, History, Psychology, Sociology and more.  

Reading List

  • Exam board resources – illuminatepublishing.com
  • Core DVD to purchase for the beginning of the course – available on Amazon / in other DVD stores: 


For Exam in 2024 (component 1) 

  • Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), PG 
  • Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979), 15 
  • No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007), 15 
  • Captain Fantastic (Ross, 2015), 15. 
  • We Need to Talk about Kevin (Ramsay, 2011), 15 
  • Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004), 15 
  • Core DVD to purchase for the beginning of the course – available on Amazon / in other DVD stores: 


For Exam in 2025 (component 1) 

  • ‘Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), PG 
  • Alien (Scott, 1979), 15 
  • Joker (Phillips, 2019), 15 
  • Captain Fantastic (Ross, 2015), 15. 
  • We Need to Talk about Kevin (Ramsay, 2011), 15 
  • Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004), 15 


Wider reading to support independent study: 

Students are strongly advised to consult a range of titles from the list below, many of which are available either new or second-hand online, for example on a website such as Amazon, or to loan from the Hive Library: 

  • Classical Hollywood (1930-1960) 
  • Bordwell, D.; Staiger, J.; Thompson, K. (1988/2005) The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960 (Routledge: London) 
  • Neale, S. ed. (2012) The Classical Hollywood Reader (Routledge: London) 
  • New Hollywood (1961-1990) 
  • Kramer, P. (2006) The New Hollywood: From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars, (Columbia University Press: New York, USA) 
  • Schatz, T. (1993) “The New Hollywood” in Collins, J.; Radnor, H.; Collins, A. eds. Film Theory Goes to the Movies, (Routledge: London) pp.8–36 
  • British film since 1995 
  • Fitzgerald, J. (2010) Studying British Cinema: 1999–2009, (Columbia University Press: New York, USA) 
  • Higson, A. (2011) Film England: Culturally English Filmmaking Since the 1990s, (I.B. Tauris & Co. Inc.: London) 
  • Lenos, M.; Ryan, M. (2012) An Introduction to Film Analysis: Technique and Meaning in Narrative Film, (Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.: London) 
  • Van Sijll, J. (2005) Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know, (Michael Wiese Productions: Studio City, USA) 
  • Murphy, R. (2009) The British Cinema Book, 3rd Edition, (British Film Institute: London) 


Documentary Film 

  • Aufderheide, P. (2008) Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford University Press: Oxford) 
  • Nichols, B. (2017) Introduction to Documentary, Third Edition, (Indiana University Press: Bloomington, USA) 
  • Film Movements — Silent Cinema 
  • Withall, K. (2017) Studying Early and Silent Cinema, (Columbia University Press: New York, USA) 
  • Napper, L. (2017) Silent Cinema: Before the Pictures Got Small (Short Cuts), (Columbia University Press: New York, USA) 
  • Film Movements—Experimental Film (1960–2000) 
  • Ramey, K. (2015) Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine, (CRC Press: Boca Raton, USA) 
  • Foster, G.A.; Winston-Dixon, W. (2002) Experimental Cinema: The Film Reader (In Focus: Routledge Film Readers), (Routledge: London) 
  • Le Grice, M. (2001) Experimental Cinema in the Digital Age, (British Film Institute: London) 
  • Production coursework: writing screenplays 
  • Cowgill, Linda J. Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters Lone Eagle Publishing Co 2005 
  • Gaffney, F On Screenwriting, Auteur, 2017 
  • McKee, Robert Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting Methuen Publishing Ltd, 1999 
  • Nash, Patrick Short Films: Writing the Screenplay Creative Essentials, 2012. 


Journals

  • Online journals -‘Screen’
    academic.oup.com/screen
    This is the leading international journal of academic film and television studies. 
  • Film International
    filmint.nu
    Covers film culture as part of the broader culture, history and economy of society. 
  • Quarterly Review of Film and Video
    tandfonline.com
    Publishes essays, book reviews and interviews in the area of moving image studies.
  • Cinema Journal cmstudies.org/page/cinema_journal
    A range of interesting essays and articles about all aspects of film.
  • Journal of British Cinema and Television
    euppublishing.com/loi/JBCTV
    An excellent journal exploring developments in British film.     


These websites are updated regularly with reviews, essays and interesting articles related to different aspects of film and cinema: 


Useful online revision sites

Eastern Learning Alliance

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CHESTERTON SIXTH FORM
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T 01223 712150

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